Commerce Secretary John Bryson said Monday night that he is taking an indefinite leave of absence to deal with health problems, after officials said the Cabinet member had a seizure while driving Saturday and was involved in three traffic collisions.

This might have been caused by a series medical problem. As far as that's concerned, FTA:

Studies suggest that about 8 percent of Americans will have a single seizure in their lifetimes. Often the cause is never known.

Those "abnormal electrical discharges" can be caused by a brain tumor, as with Teddy Kennedy and Robert Novak. Hence, I will withhold judgment until we know more.

In some cases, a partial complex seizure can leave a person able to perform simple, familiar activities but not more complex ones. The cause is abnormal electrical discharges occurring in one part of the brain but not others.

Patients may continue driving, just not very well, said Gregory L. Krauss, a neurologist and epilepsy specialist at Johns Hopkins University. They dont have normal awareness. They might be able to turn a bit but not do complex avoidance maneuvers.,p>

Such seizures can last for four or five minutes. Some also become generalized, affecting the entire brain and leading to unconsciousness. Even if that doesnt happen, people are generally confused for up to an hour afterward.

If they tested him and he wasn’t drunk, I would give him the benefit of the doubt. He doesn’t have any history of bad driving, as far as I can tell, and he had no reason to flee the scene of a fender bender.

2
posted on 06/12/2012 8:09:49 AM PDT
by Defiant
(If there are infinite parallel universes, why Lord, am I living in the one with Obama as President?)

That’s how I thing and this is ominously like what happened to Bob Novak. Hence, the benefit of the doubt. If anyone here thinks I’m a stealth Obamunist, just read all my other posts about the Illegal.

I have had hundreds of petit mal seizures and at least one grand mal. The partial seizures can be deceptive to onlookers, and to those unfamiliar with them can assume they are something else.

I was hoping someone with direct experience would post!

When I first heard this story, I was thinking petit mal seizure was in the realm of possibility.

However Bryson apparently has no history of any kind of seizures, petit mal or grand mal.

Sure, it could've been a "first" seizure -- but how would anyone have been able to determine that so quickly? Like, immediately after the accident? Seems to me it would take several days of medical testing to even suggest that a petit mal was a possibility. (And if it had been grand mal, Bryson wouldn't have been in any condition to drive off and hit someone else.)

If it turns out that Bryson did in fact have a history of petit mal seizures, wouldn't that condition have to be noted on his driver's license?

anybody that had “seizure” concerns would have stayed in california a few days to get checked out. Instead, the scumbag flew coast to coast to get to DC to destroy the “evidence”, then he announced a “medical leave”.

Second, no less a truth bastion than MSNBC confirms that Bryson DID have a seizure and he is now taking a leave of absence.

The Commerce Department said Bryson was taken to the hospital for examination and remained overnight for observation. He was released and returned to Washington, spokeswoman Jennifer Friedman said. The department says an investigation is ongoing.

I know a little bit about seizures, having witnessed and learning about them over a span of a year.

My husband got a brain infection and he had seizures of all sorts. Of course I’m no expert but go with the odds.

Seizures are when the body performs movements that were not commanded by the body’s owner. They happen because of some malfunction in the brain.

Bryson’s over 60 years old. If this guy had seizures it sure would have been known before this.

Yeah seizures are apt to pop up, say from a brain tumor, or in my husband’s case, a brain infection, for the first time at SOME poiint.

In the case of a brain infection more than likely there’d been some kind of history of fighting some kind of infection, in husband’s case, pneumonia that migrated to his brain. Very rare but still and so, there is SOME kind of medical history proceeding the brain infection, hence the seizure.

Even though the body goes through wracking motions that the mind did not order, most times a person experiencing a seizure is aware of what’s going on. They just can’t do a thing to stop it. Further, when the seizure is over, the person KNOWS they had a seizure. The whole time their body’s doing things they can’t control, they know what’s going on. Their eyes are rolling around, maybe, their tongue might hang out. They can’t control what their body’s doing but their mind still works.

This does not apply all the time, of course, but going with the odds. Bryson should have known he had a seizure and number one, it shouldn’t be a mystery. Number two, folks rarely jump back into and drive cars after a seizure. Much less have three seizures over a span of an hour, boom, all of a sudden out of nowhere.

And further, lookit, seizures don’t cripple you, assuming it WAS a seizure. There’s no reason for the guy to take a leave of absence though a few days off to follow up on medical stuff is an intelligent action. But note that MSNBC told AP that Bryson’s taking a leave of absence.

My husband worked and functioned fine during his seizure period. Driving a car is a no-no in most states, further giving me doubt cause if this guy had a seizure history he sure wouldn’t be driving around. Varies from state to state I imagine but I consider this another fly in this ointment.

In Delaware you got be seizure free for a year before driving license returned. Further, there are good medications that help seizures, often eliminating them completely. Husband, because of brain infection, was going thru a medical protocol to get his prescription right to stop the seizures. During the adjustment period he would have seizures, but he functioned and did not need to take a leave of absence.

After six months of intensive antibiotic infusion, husband has recovered completely but he still takes anti-seizure meds because there is scar tissue on his brain.

I’ll shut up now but everything about this rather unusual story is odds that Bryson did NOT have a seizure.

In general, once the seizure is over, there is no evidence that it occurred. However, with big ones, the seizure so takes over the body that it goes catatonic for up to several hours. Absolute, total exhaustion.

Several of my kids have had seizure issues when they were younger.

THey are tested by hooking up sensors to the head and monitoring brain activity for about 24 hours.

For obvious reasons, liberals are very hard to test for normal brain functions. (sorry, had to do it)

28
posted on 06/12/2012 9:17:24 AM PDT
by cyclotic
(People who live within their means are increasingly being forced to pay for people who didn't.)

[If they tested him and he wasnt drunk, I would give him the benefit of the doubt. He doesnt have any history of bad driving, as far as I can tell, and he had no reason to flee the scene of a fender bender.]

Bryson is said to have “an unnamed underlying medical condition.” If it is epilepsy his seizure could be mistakenly diagnosed as substance abuse or mental illness.

“Society's lack of understanding about the many different types of seizures is one of the biggest problems for people with epilepsy. People who witness a non-convulsive seizure often find it difficult to understand that behavior which looks deliberate is not under the person's control. In some cases, this has led to the affected person being arrested or admitted to a psychiatric hospital. To combat these problems, people everywhere need to understand the many different types of seizures and how they may appear.”

I have witnessed an epileptic seizure in the VA hospital. The staff thought the patient was drunk or drugged. They called security but before they arrived the symptoms—slurred voice, maniacal laughing, staggering—subsided. Then a nurse discovered the man was epileptic from a medical bracelet he wore.

I'm not a fan of Bryson. He's tied to the Energy Department BrightSource scandal and is part of perhaps the most corrupt administration in more than 100 years.

32
posted on 06/12/2012 9:55:35 AM PDT
by Brad from Tennessee
(A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)

Yes, in a sense. Seizures compel you to do crazy things. My step brother had a seizure when he was driving and blacked out and crashed his car (thankfully no one else was hurt). He fought the paramedics and cops as they tried to put him on the stretcher to airlift him away from the accident scene (he was in bad shape but actually tried to fight them). He is not the type who would normally do something like that. Seizures affect the brain and make you do crazy things. I, for one, will give this guy the benefit of the doubt and pray for his recovery.

40
posted on 06/12/2012 10:44:46 AM PDT
by Opinionated Blowhard
("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")

Because of the HIPPA law you have no right to know anything. I have seen drunk drivers crash into a concrete post and never get charged with anything. People who have been pre diabetic, or have it, do the strangest things. This is so closely held that we really know nothing outside the accident and where he is. He will be watched for the rest of his life.

Because of the HIPPA law you have no right to know anything. I have seen drunk drivers crash into a concrete post and never get charged with anything. People who have been pre diabetic, or have it, do the strangest things. This is so closely held that we really know nothing outside the accident and where he is. He will be watched for the rest of his life.

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